// Takes a string in MMDDYYYY format and parses it into a date
String date = "07032008";
//Set the SimpleDateFormat and then parse
//Here M stands for month in year, d for date in month, and y for year
//For a complete list of pattern letters visit http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html
Date parsedDate = new SimpleDateFormat("MMddyyyy").parse(date);